Marketing Yourself Within Your Workplace

I often think about people in the entertainment industry—actors, performers, directors, scriptwriters and such.

And to be candid, I often envy them. But not for the reason that you may think.

I envy them because they have mastered one skill that I find challenging but absolutely necessary.

By necessity, they've wrestled with the art of self-marketing and got used to putting themselves out there.

Going to audition after audition, submitting proposals, actively talking about and promoting their current projects. An almost daily ritual of putting themselves in the line of (potential) rejection and disappointment.

Obviously, not all of them are excellent self-marketers. And we may argue, some of them overdo it.

But those of us who work in corporate settings can take a page from their books.

Working within the four walls of a company tend to make us complacent, thinking there no longer is a need to market ourselves, at least until it’s time to switch jobs. This approach to self-promotion is limiting and detrimental to our career progress.

If you feel disconnected or invisible at work, have a look at how you’ve been marketing yourself internally.

Here’s the thing: nobody will know about you unless you talk about yourself.

No one will know about your skills unless you talk about the kinds of things you’ve done. No one will figure why you’re the best person for the job unless you describe what you can bring to the table. No one can help you and offer you the best options, unless you open up and tell others about your goals.

Promote what you do internally. Talk about your assignments with interested parties.

It’s the sure-fire way of creating openings for that next opportunity.

Just put yourself in the shoes of someone who’s running a project. Imagine someone whom you’ve never heard of, suddenly raising his hand to join your project? You might consider him, true. But surely his chances of getting considered would be greater if you had known of him, his work, or about his interests beforehand. Right?

Let’s take a page from entertainment industry. Let’s learn how to get comfortable marketing ourselves to help us achieve our goals.

About The Author: Lou Blaser mentors professional men and women who refuse to be stuck, and want to create meaningful careers. She writes about, and advises on career reinvention at Second Breaks.

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Project Eve Media is social media management company with a concentration on lead generation and sales. We position our clients for success through social media management services, social media advertising services, website design, and content marketing.